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BBC resolves Arabic service dispute

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A dispute between the BBC and the two Arabic service producers it dismissed last year, which led to a campaign by the NUJ to have them reinstated, was resolved last week.

Adli Hawwari and Dr Abdul Hadi Jiad were dismissed last February shortly before the war broke out in Iraq. A joint statement by the union and the BBC – but issued last week by the NUJ -said: “The BBC acknowledges that in the departure of Mr Hawwari and Dr Jiad it did not follow its normal procedures.

“Adli Hawwari and Abdul Hadi Jiad have withdrawn their outstanding claims. They have decided to pursue other career options outside the BBC.”

Mark Byford, then head of BBC World Service, and human resources director Stephen Dando dismissed the pair after “a review of the BBC’s relationship with the two men over a five-year period”, but breached the corporation’s disciplinary procedure.

Jiad and Hawwari should have been sent home with pay until a disciplinary hearing was called before outright dismissal and would have been entitled to have a union official accompany them to the hearing.